Improvement in brick-kilns



C.' P. PECK. Brik-Kln.

No. 198,673. Patented Decyz, 1877.

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UNITED .SfrrrrEsl I PnrElsTr OEEIoE. l

CHARLES F. PECK, OE GEORGETOWN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

|MPRovl-:MENT IIN BRICK-KILNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,673, dated December25, 1877 application filed l y December 1, 1877.

To all whom 'it may concern: l

Be it known that I, CHARLES FLETCHER PEcK, of Georgetown, inthe'District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement inBrick-Kilns, which improvement is fullyV set forth in the followingspeciication.

Along experience has shown that the present form of the kiln used forburning-brick has such advantages .for receiving and 'discharging thebrick that it will probably never be superseded. As each brick Y weighssix pounds when it goes into the kiln, and is sold to-day, and in thislocality, for about halfa cent when put upon the market, economy inlling and emptying the'kiln must always be a primary consideration. Soheavy and so cheap a product will bear very little expense in handling.

The structure now commonly used is rectangular, having walls abouteighteen feet high, open at the top; It is from thirty-five to fortyfeet inwidth and from thirty to seventyfeet in length. y

The bed or bottom consists of a series of low solid walls, about threefeet wide and the same depth, running across the kiln with interveningopen spacesabout one foot iu width, which pierce the walls of the kilnat each end. These open spaces form the ash-pits, and over them are laidthe grates. The grates being thus on a level with fthe top of the lowwalls before referred to, them-together, form' the floor of the kiln,over which carts, wheelbarrows, cars, &c., pass for bringing in thegreen brick and taking them out after burning. For this purpose at oneor both ends of the kiln an open space is left in the wall wide enoughfor two or three carts to pass. e

The fires are built upon the grates before referred to,and over them thefire-places are formed by turning arches of the green brick as they arebeing set for burning, with small interstices between them. Thenre-places are carried up with perpendiculary sides eighteen inchesapart for seven courses, say, thirty inches high; then seven vmoreoverhanging courses on each side complete the arch. The iire is builtunder and within this arch, which the exterior walls of the kiln.

is about forty feet long, eighteen inches wide, and five feet high. Thefuel is thrown in from a small opening through the kiln-wall at eachend, the ashes falling through the grates into the ash-pit.A Thisash-pit is also aboutforty feet long, one foot wide, and three feetdeep. It will be seen that the fuel is burned in a long narrow chamberor tunnel, and 'that the only supply of air to aid the combustion isthrough the ash-pit, which is also a long, narrow tunnel, open to theair only at its extremities. There being a strong upward draft, the airwhich enters the mouth yof the ash-pit is quickly drawn up through thegrate-bars, and causes a rapid combustion of the fuel near the mouth,while the ires toward the inner parts of the arch are veryimperfectlyIsupplied with air.- The consequence is very imperfectcombustion of the fuel in these inner parts, many of the gases whichshould be consumed passing olf through the top of the kiln. f 1 I havebeen thus particular in describing the present method of burning' brickin order to explain the great advantage it possesses for getting thebrick into `and out of the kiln, and the serious disadvantage in theconsumption of fuel. y The object of my present invention is to preservethe former and overcome the latter.4 All the heat in a given amount offuel can only beV developed by complete combustion, and this can onlytake place by supp g 1 with a large amount of oxygen, from one hundredand fifty to two hundred cubic feet of air being necessary for theperfect combustion of a single pound of bituminous coal. Without thissupply of air there must be a loss of heat and waste of fuel.

My present invention consists, first, inmeans for introducing anabundant supply of fresh air-into the body ofthe kiln,so as to giveallparts of the fire-place along the entire length of the arch a supply ofoxygen as nearly equal as practically possible.

f. To accomplish my said object, the low wall or dead space between theash-pits is lbuilt with a ilue through it, which also goes through Thisflue has a series of small apertures, connecting it with the ash-pit, sothat the fresh air is admitted on alternately opposite sides all alongunderA floor with the grates inserted between the.

piers, part of the ioor with the grates removed and exposing theash-pits, and part of the iioor in horizontal section on line y z,showing the arrangement of lues and apertures leading into the ash-pits.Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in vertical section, of the kiln, theplane of section passing through the center of the kiln transversely tothe gratesupporting piers. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section online m fn, in Fig. 2.

In said figures, A A are the grate-supporting piers; B B, the ash-pits,and C C the flues before referred to.

Y As the parts of the nre-place near the exterior walls. aresufficiently supplied with air through the ash-pit, the flues shouldhave no openings until about one-third of the distance to the middle ofthe kiln is passed-say, six feet. In order to insure a more uniformsupply .of air through this long hre-place, I arrange these iuesalternately, so that one shall have its openings into the ash-pit for aspace of about six feet, the middle onethird of the distance to thecenter of the kiln, and the next one in like manner supplies air lfo thenext six feet, or to the center of the By this arrangement the arch hasthree distinct sources for the supply of air for each half of itslength. The first six feet is supplied from the mouth of the ash-pit;the next six feet from the iiue on one side through the apertures beforementioned; the next six feet from the flue on the opposite side throughthe apertures.

If preferred, this separate action of the iiues could be omitted, andeach iue have the same openings into the ash-pit.

These iiues should be made narrow, to avoid weakening too much the'exterior wall of the -kiln where they pass through it. Six inches wouldbe a sufficient width, and a depth of two feet would give across-section of one hundred and forty-four inches.

If piercing the walls of the kiln would weaken them too much, as mightbe the case in applying this invention to old kilns, the ilue could beled around and under the ashpit. Whichever method is adopted, coversshould be placed on the exterior openings of the ilues, to enable theburner to regulate the draft.

It may be deemed advisable to construct the walls with buttressesbetween the openings, so as to strengthen and properly support thesuperincumbent wall.

One of the most serious practical difficulties in burning. brick is theoverheating of the arches. On this account the kiln-doors mustfrequently be left open to cool them, by which the operation of burningis retarded. The bricks in and about the arch are greatly injured by theexcess of heat before those in the top of the kiln are burned to a goodcolor.

To obviate these difficulties my invention further consists inconstructing the kiln with a second flue, D, separated from, butdirectly over, the one just described, in each wall or dead-space.Instead of side openings into the ash-pit, this flue has openings in thetop, which forms the iioor of the kiln, so that the air circulatingthrough this upper iiue is allowed to pass up between, and in closeproximity to, the arches. By this means they will be prevented frombecoming overheated, and the air thus introduced into the body of thekiln will mingle with the gases and products of combustion, and producea greater heat, and diffuse it more equally throughout the kiln.

rEhe exterior openings of this flue should also be provided with covers,so that the admission of the air can be regulated. It can be constructedto follow the course of the other flue, either through the kiln-wall oraround under'the ash-pit.

A simpler construction, but a less satisfac- I tory result, perhaps,could be obtained by combining these two into a single flue, withopenings in the side into the ash-pit, and openv ings in the top toadmit the air among the bricks between the arches.

The apertures in the top of the flue, which is the floor of the kiln,could be formed, with advantage, by brick molded with a recess in theside, as shown in perspective view in Fig. 4. These, being set on edge,would, as shown in Fig. 5, leave the floor strong enough to bear thecarts and horses passing over it when the brick are being delivered.

Y In all cases the aggregate size of the apertures in the flue should beproportioned to the size of its exterior openings, bearing in mind thatthose in the top of the ue will be partly covered by the green brick setover them.

Having thus described my said invention, and the manner in which thesame is or may be carried into effect what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters latent, is

1. In a brick-kiln in which the grate and arch supporting piers areprovided with airues, as described, the arrangement of apertures for thedischarge of the air under the grate from alternatingly-opposite sides,subsubstantially as herein shown and set forth.

2. In brick-kilns of otherwise ordinary and suitable construction, grateand arch supportingpiers provided With lues for the admission of andapertures for the discharge of air over and between the grates,substantially as herein set forth.

3. In grate and arch supporting piers of brick-kilns, the combination offines and apertures, substantially as shown and described,` for theadmission of air into said flues and the discharge ofthe same under,over, and between the grates, as set forth. i

In testimony whereof I have signed this specicaton in the presence oftwo subscribing Witnesses. i

Witnesses: f l C. F. PEGK.

A. PoLLoK,

E. A. DICK.

